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Sieg Braham
Sieg Braham was a non-player character in the Medieval game, and has since made appearances in numerous roleplays and side fics. Backstory Sieg is a half-elf, the firstborn of the human locksmith Morgaine and the elven knight Belial. He was born and raised in the elf city of Nid’aigle. Though Sieg was originally one of a twin set, his brother Nikolas died only four months after birth from complications of the hybridism. Fortunately Sieg himself was healthy and strong, with an unusually high amount of natural immunities to illness from his mixed blood. As a child he was extremely cheerful and energetic, with a boundless enthusiasm for life and an extremely friendly disposition. He was never shy, always eager, and extremely protective of his younger sister Ophelia when she was eventually born. Discovering that he had a fantastic singing voice when he was six years old, he decided he wanted to be a minstrel when he grew up, and took regular vocal lessons to that end. However, the elves among whom Sieg was raised had an extremely low birth rate due to their long lives, and for the most part when he was growing up he had no one his own age to play with aside from his sister. Though it wasn’t always easy to tell around his cheerful attitude, Sieg was an extremely lonely child. Lacking friends, he was very emotionally dependent on his parents and sister. Over time this loneliness and boredom evolved into a penchant for getting himself into trouble, which culminated in he and his sister being attacked by an angry mother bear when he was eleven years old. Ophelia was badly hurt, and his father Belial also took some nasty lacerations saving the two children. Badly shaken by the incident, which gave him a rather stark understanding his family’s mortality, Sieg became fixated on the idea that he had to become strong so that he could protect the people he cared about. Abandoning his dream of being a minstrel, Sieg applied to become a page so that he might one day stand by his father as a knight. When Belial left for two years to fight in the Langian War, Sieg’s unaddressed concerns about his family’s mortality began to fester badly. He applied himself obsessively on his page training in an effort to distract himself from the fear of his father not returning from the war. Though Belial did survive, Sieg still found himself becoming unduly worried whenever his father left on knightly missions. These tensions were not helped at all by the disdain he endured from the elves when he began to experience the human mood swings of adolescence. Desperate to prove himself capable and make the people around him happy, Sieg took his own naturally cheerful personality and molded himself into something of a clown and a show-off. He took no greater joy than when he was able to make someone smile or laugh, even if it was at his own expense. Though the elves still didn’t approve of this, he was finally coming out the other end of puberty and starting to settle into his own skin when everything came unraveled. At sixteen years old he was promoted from page to squire, and his very first true combat assignment was a massive one- he was to act as a translator between the elves and the human forces combating an insane dragon. Though Sieg was looking forward to his first action, the battle went horribly awry. The dragon used its fire breath to blow up a grain barn, trapping Sieg and a number of other knights under the burning debris. Before the monster could finish them off, however, Belial intervened, throwing a javelin at it as a distraction. This action saved the knights trapped in the wrecked barn, but Belial paid for his heroism with his life, burned to death by the dragon’s fire. Between watching his father burn to death and being immobilized under burning rubble for hours, Sieg came out of the battle intensely traumatized and only barely clinging to his sanity. Blaming himself for what happened, he tried to refuse magical healing for his horrific burns, only surviving because the healers worked to save him while he was unconscious and unable to protest. He was left with manic phobias of fire and entrapment, and near constant nightmare replays of the battle that robbed him of the ability to get a sound sleep. For a time he was barely able to function, and it was only with the near constant support of his sister Ophelia and his knight master Gavin Monfort that he made any progress towards recovery. Knowing how badly his father’s death would hurt the others close to him and not wanting to burden them with his trauma, Sieg affected a seeming his former good cheer, smiling serenely no matter his actual mood. Ophelia and Gavin weren’t fooled by this charade, and continued to give him the support he desperately needed regardless. However, his mother Morgaine was near catatonic with grief at the loss of her husband, and she was too absorbed in her own misery to see past Sieg’s façade. Unaware of how damaged her son still was, Morgaine left Nid’aigle and moved to the capital city of Medieville to pursue a life away from the now painful memories of her husband. His mother’s departure, only two years after Belial’s death, was a severe blow to Sieg, but he only turned further inwards in response to it. Determined to support her decision and not impose himself on his mother, he refused to be angry with her for leaving as his sister Ophelia was. He made a point to visit her in Medieville on occasion, but she was still distant and withdrawn. Concluding he would only make himself and her more miserable if he kept up his visits, Sieg eventually stopped trying. At twenty-two years old he was promoted to full knighthood. His life was not constantly miserable by any stretch- he was able to overcome the worst of his pyrophobia and his nightmares lessened somewhat in frequency with time. He also found a lot of fulfillment in his work as a knight. However, the grief, guilt, and self-loathing was still very much with Sieg. In an effort to punish himself for his father's death, Sieg refused any sort of magical healing for his battle wounds, gradually acquiring a horrific patchwork of scars across most of his body. His staunch insistence on pretending to be happy and content in spite of the trauma also wore on him. It got to the point where clinging to that mask was all that kept him functional as a person, but perversely the mask itself was damaging him even as it was holding him tenuously together. Things held at this stalemate for a time, until the death of the Kythian king in the summer of 1314. Pre-game Fics Sieg has participated in a number of fics and roleplays that took place prior to the main storyline. * The Fragility of Life - Morgaine reflects bitterly on the loss of Sieg's twin brother, Nikolas, who died from birth defects. Sieg, eight months old at the time, comforts her with his very first word. * Candy - A two year old Sieg meets his newborn baby sister, Ophelia. * No Nap! - Two year old Sieg is in the market with Morgaine, and he is beginning to get tired, as toddlers do. And as toddlers do, he has a temper tantrum when Morgaine informs him that it's nap time. * Improvising - Three year old Sieg cameos very briefly in this fic, playing in the yard with Ophelia. * We've Always Been Together - Five year old Sieg is horrified when his little sister comes down with a flu, and insists on sitting vigil with her instead of playing. Belial and Morgaine realize that Sieg has a bizzare super immunity to illness, but also that he has a human child's need for companionship of other children- something Nid'aigle can't give him. * The Great Cookie Princess - Six year old Sieg plays minstrel for his four year old sister Ophelia's princess, under the watchful eye of their father. Cuteness ensues. * Summer Storms - Six year old Sieg and four year old Ophelia are woken in the middle of the night by a violent storm. The thunder scares Ophelia, but Sieg sings her a song to comfort her. * Mama Bear - Eleven year old Sieg has the brilliant idea to sneak off with his nine year old sister into the woods for an adventure. They run afoul of a bear, and the experience of seeing his sister and father hurt by the animal deeply affects Sieg's outlook on his life. * Evil - Thirteen year old Sieg is deeply upset when his mother is snubbed by an elven client, and has a heart to heart with his father about the nature of evil and the power of love and forgiveness. * Smashed - Fifteen year old Sieg has some teenage angst, and winds up making the less than wise decision to try drowning his sorrows in the bottle. This backfires spectacularly when he discovers that he is in fact a weepy drunk, and the alcohol only depresses him more. * Waning Hours - Sieg, now sixteen, chatters playfully with his family, excited for his first real combat mission- to fight a dragon. * Fault and Blame - The battle against the dragon goes badly awry. Belial is killed, and Sieg is left heavily traumatized and guilt ridden. * Lost to Time - In the wake of the dragon fight, Sieg's knight master Gavin helps to desensitize him to fire. Sieg discovers that Gavin was once a mage, and in asking about it learns his master's tragic history. * Ten Things I Hate About Elacs - Takes place a year after Sieg is formally knighted. He is given the inglorious task of going into a swamp and fetching an escaped pet python for a minor Elacsite nobleman. Shenanigans ensue. * Tell Me Everything - Sieg welcomes his sister Ophelia back from a trip to the Corvid capital of Solis, and pesters her with questions about her new boyfriend, Cai Shahar. * Wishing You Were Here - Though Sieg does not appear formally, as most of the roleplay is formatted as letters back and forth between his sister Ophelia and her boyfriend Cai, he is present as a plot element in Ophelia's arc and occasionally contributes opinions about her correspondence or even passes along messages to Cai through her. * Sweet as Honey - Sieg appears in this fic, meeting his sister's boyfriend Cai for the first time and balking at the fireknight's attempts to get Sieg out of his cocoon of guilt and self-accusation. * Broken Bridges: Part Two - Taking place in the middle of the events of the main game, Sieg receives a letter from his long estranged mother asking for his help. Ophelia adamantly insists he should refuse the request, but he chooses to go even if it means potentially having his heart broken again. Canon RP Initially Sieg had no involvement in the events of King Starmey's funeral. He was neither a nobleman nor a diplomat of his own people, and felt no personal drive to attend the funeral or the coronation. However, to his utter astonishment, he received a letter from Morgaine a few days after the funeral asking for his help. There were some foul events going on behind the curtain, with a band of rebels active in the city and the nobility plotting their own mischief. Morgaine was unnerved- she wanted her son, a trained knight who she trusted, in Medieville to help with the events unfolding there. Ophelia was of the opinion he should ignore the summons, saying Morgaine was using Sieg only as a convenience and she'd just disappoint him again when she didn't need his help. However, hopeful that this might finally be his chance to reconnect with his estranged mother, Sieg went to the capital regardless. He arrived during the second day of the Midsummer Festival. After checking in to a room at the King's Arms in, he met up with his mother for the first time in five years. Morgaine greeted him warmly, much to the dismay of the young keymaker who she'd taken on as her partner, Rosalie Dylas. Sieg managed to reassure Rosalie that she had no reason to be jealous, and used his natural charm and charisma to win her over. For the next several days Sieg went about Medieville, getting acquainted with the city and the people who lived there. At one point a delegation from the neighboring country of Courdon came to the city, leaving Sieg rather unnerved and questioning their intentions. On the third day after his arrival, he met a man who, like him, was a knight- and a half-blood. The man introduced himself as Orrin Ironbeard, half dwarf and half "four armed ape thing." Despite the unusual nature of the stranger, he and Sieg hit it off rather well. Orrin offered to take Sieg to his employer, House Stallion, so that Sieg could ask them for more information as to how he might be of help to the people of Medieville. Sieg agreed to this idea, and accompanied Orrin to Stallion Manor. There, Sieg met the house patriarch, Grand Duke Alain Stallion. Much to Sieg's surprise, the grand duke seemed to recognize him, asking Sieg if he'd fought in the Langian War. Sieg realized that Alain must have met Belial during the war, and recognized Sieg because of his resemblance to his father. After a bit of discussion Alain confirmed this, but didn't seem to be aware that Belial had since been killed. When Sieg told him about Belial's death, Alain recognized that the half-elf was feeling a lot more than normal grief over the issue. Alain took into the manor for a private conversation about it. At length Sieg revealed his involvement in the fight that killed his father, and the guilt he was still grappling with. The grand duke told him that his guilt would moot nothing, what had happened wasn't his fault, and he should move on. Sieg was initially dismissive, claiming it wasn't something he could just erase. In response to this, Alain confided that he too knew what it was like to carry a burden of personal guilt over something that you could neither control nor change. When Alain was a child, he and his brother Ambrose had been targeted for a curse by a forgotten god. Alain avoided the curse, but Ambrose took the full brunt of it, and spent the entire rest of his life plagued by uncontrollable visions of the future. Ambrose was labelled as a madman, and isolated from most of society. Alain blamed himself for what had happened for decades, only recently managing to come to terms with his brother's fate and the fact that in the end he had been powerless to prevent it. Sieg was shocked by this, and moved by Alain's sincere sympathy. The conversation left Sieg feeling extremely raw and off-balance, Alain having effectively blasted apart all of the half-elf's coping mechanisms and laying bare his insecurities. However, Sieg didn't have much time to reflect on the conversation. When he arrived back at the inn, he was told that Morgaine had been attacked by a thief from the visiting Courdonian delegation. One of her eyes had been put out, and she'd very nearly been killed. Horrified, Sieg blamed himself for not having been there to protect Morgaine, and came perilously close to a complete emotional breakdown. Fortunately, Rosalie was able to calm Sieg, reassuring him that he couldn't have guessed what was going to happen and that it wasn't his fault. The following day was to be the new queen's coronation. Between the rebels and the Courdonians, there wasn't one person in Medieville who didn't expect something to go horribly wrong at the coronation. Initially Sieg intended to stay at the lock shop and protect his mother and Rosalie. He was worried about a second attack, as well as the threat to Rosalie from a Courdonian prince named Cornelio who'd been accosting her. However, Rosie convinced him otherwise, pointing out that if something went wrong at the coronation he would be better preventing the damage form spreading beyond it then waiting for it to spill over into the rest of the city. She gave him a key for good luck, and asked him to go and fight to protect them. Sieg agreed, and headed up to the castle of Raven's Keep. The rebels moved first, inciting a mob in an effort to distract the crowd while they moved into the castle to put their True Heir in power. However, before anyone could really try to react to this, a Courdonian war party assaulted the coronation as well. Things quickly devolved into absolute chaos. Amidst the mayhem, Sieg was able to find Prince Cornelio, and attacked him to protect Rosalie and in the hopes of getting a high ranking Courdonian hostage. Sieg proved to be a far superior fighter to the prince, but unfortunately once he realized he was losing Cornelio summoned one of the Courdonian gryphon riders to save him. Sieg was very nearly thrown off of the cliff that Raven's Keep was built on. At the last minute he was saved by the mage Leif Jade, and the two of them teamed up to fight the gryphon rider. They beat it, but Sieg ended up taking a fatal wound in the process. Leif tried to heal him, but Sieg refused, still insisting that he should allow his wounds to heal naturally as punishment for his role in Belial's death. Leif was eventually able to talk Sieg around, pointing out that Belial wouldn't have wanted Sieg to die. Sieg was still reluctant, but he let the mage heal his wound, and the two of them rejoined the fighting. Heading into the castle, Sieg noticed Joffery Jade about to be assassinated by a Courdonian with a crossbow. He knocked Joffery down, saving his life. However it turned out to be a trap, and soon Leif, Joffery and Sieg were surrounded by enemies in the narrow hallway. The fought fiercely against their antagonists, eventually overcoming them- though Leif almost completely drained his magic and Sieg was concussed in the process. The three of them agreed to head to the triage that had been set up for the Kythian wounded. Sieg lost consciousness for a time, but when he stirred he found that the battle had ended; the Courdonians had retreated with the death of their king. Morgaine found him a short while later, revealing that she'd overheard his conversation with Rosalie about his guilt complex the day before. The two of them had a long overdue heart to heart about Belial's death, finally reconnecting after twelve years of emotional distance. Nine months later, Sieg is not fully recovered by any means, but he has made significant improvement. He no longer feigns happiness constantly, he has started accepting magical healing, and he visits his mother in Medieville a good deal more often. He makes one such visit just in time to attend the wedding of Joffery Jade and Hope Ascension. At the wedding he meets up with Orrin, and the two of them discuss the possibility of going out on knightly adventures together, accepting some destination suggestions from Alain Stallion when he overhears. They end up getting a little too enthusiastic about these plans, and by the end of the night both of them are roaring drunk and Morgaine has to drag Sieg home over her shoulder. Just before leaving, Morgaine and Sieg have a chat with Rosalie, and the three of them take joy in each other's company and reflect on the importance bonds they've established during the past year. Sieg, for the first time in a long time, is truly happy. Post Game *Sad, Shy Smiles - The autumn after the coronation, Sieg is in Medieville to visit his mother. While at the King's Arms in, he meets Xavier Lynn, and the two of them bond over a shared loathing for Courdon and their various insecurities. Roleplay between Shinko and Elcie. *Call to Adventure - Sieg talks to his sister Ophelia about the plans he's made to go on an adventure in Bern with Orrin, and tries to convince her to finally make amends with their mother. *'Knight Adventures' - See Below *O Come All Ye Medieval - It's the December of 1316, and Morgaine and Sieg have decided to throw a Woomas party for all their friends at the King's Arms. Roleplay between Shinko, Celestial, Tiger, Killix, Liou, GLQ, PFA, and Kristykimmy. *Flesh and Blood: Part One - Sieg invites Leif, as well as Leif's older brother Markus, to visit the elven city of Nid'aigle. Funtime are had and there is a lot of snark. *Flesh and Blood: Part Two - Sieg and the two noble brothers enjoy themselves further in the city, and Sieg even introduces them to his old knight master, Gavin Monfort. *Flesh and Blood: Part Three - The fun and games are harshly cut off when Sieg receives terrible news- there is an unknown malicious force menacing Nid'aigle with dangerous predator animals, and his knight-master Gavin has been killed by the creatures. Sieg is crushed. *Flesh and Blood: Part Four - When one of the menacing animals that killed Gavin walks into Nid'aigle, Sieg's first reaction is seething anger. However, when the creature proves unexpectedly docile, Leif catches it in a shield and manages to deduce the unthinkable- the puma is in fact Gavin, who didn't die at all but was turned into an animal. All the animals attacking the city are transformed elves, but Gavin unlike the others is able to resist the mind control. Sieg is overwhelmingly relieved to have his master back. *Flesh and Blood: Part Five - By mindlinking Sieg and Gavin, the gang is able to get a better idea of what sort of enemy they're dealing with. *Flesh and Blood: Part Six - Once in the forest to find their foe, the gang is ambushed by elves turned into animals, and Sieg finds himself in a particularly precarious position... *Flesh and Blood: Part Seven - Poisoned by a magically summoned snake, Sieg is very quickly dying. Leif manages to save Sieg, and the group decides to fall back and discuss their plan. *Flesh and Blood: Part Eight - Sieg is mostly absent from this part, though he does appear towards the end, nauseous from an illusion sent by the blood mage sent Gavin of killing things as a wild animal. *Flesh and Blood: Part Nine - The group finally tracks down the blood mage, who reveals himself to be a skinwalker. However before they can attack him, he turns Gavin against them. Sieg has a very hard time fighting his former knight master, and is frequently distracted by Leif's struggles to fight the skinwalker. *Flesh and Blood: Part Ten - The group defeats the skinwalker, with Sieg delivering the final blow. Then Sieg is able to free Gavin from his puma form, and begins work on freeing the other transformed elves. *Flesh and Blood: Epilogue - Sieg and the others rest after the skinwalker's defeat, and at Sieg's encouragement try to actually enjoy the last few days of their vacation in Nid'aigle. On the final day Sieg takes the Accipiterbros swimming in the river behind his house, and translates for Gavin when the older elf comes to give Leif and Markus presents for their help during the skinwalker affair. *Power of an Archmage - A sociopathic archmage casts a curse on a number of Corvid knights who are sent to capture him- including Sieg. The curse rips open old scars, stops wounds from healing, and drains any magical healers who try to repair the damage. The only one who can possibly break the curse before Sieg bleeds to death is Sieg's old friend Leif the archmage. Roleplay between Shinko and Tiger. Knight Adventures During the wedding of Joffery and Hope, Orrin Ironbeard asked Sieg to accompany him on an adventure. Overhearing this, Alain Stallion suggested they could make a journey through Bern. With plenty of untamed lands to explore, there would be no shortage of monsters and brigands to take down. Agreeing to this suggestion, Orrin and Sieg set out on a journey that would be remembered in the folklore of Bern for generations to come... *First Quest - Orrin and Sieg meet up in the Bernian Capital of Destrier, and start getting ready for their adventure. Roleplay between Shinko, Omni, and Celestial. *Black Hound of Haflinger - The boys arrive in the mountain town of Haflinger, which is being plagued by a ghostly Black Hound. The hound attacks people in the night, killing them and devouring their insides. But all is not as it appears, and there are some dark secrets in Haflinger the boys need to uncover if they ever want to get to the bottom of the events transpiring there. Roleplay between Shinko and Omni. *Lake Monster of Moran - Deep in the mountains is a massive lake, in which a monster known as a kelpie rampages. Anyone who ventures near is dragged into the water and drowned. It's up to Sieg and Orrin to stop the monster- assuming they can actually find their way to the lake in the first place. Roleplay between Shinko and Omni, with minor guest appearance by Celestial. *Night Terror of Tarpan - The knights travel to Tarpan, a trade city along the Langean border, to confront rumors of a vampire that stalks the knight. They are aided in their quest by a Langean woman named Zoya, who may not be as helpful as she appears... *Summaries - The summaries of the uncompleted Knight Adventures stories. Personality Sieg is an incredibly sweet natured man, personable and easy to like. He has a wealth of courage and compassion, and never backs down from a situation where his help is needed, regardless of the personal cost. Consequently he is often a bit rash, throwing himself into situations without thinking them through first. He is a bit of a dork, easily embarrassed and sometimes socially awkward, but in a way most people he meets find rather endearing. Like his mother he has a certain fondness for jokes and snark. However, behind his bashful smile Sieg is a mess of deeply rooted traumas and insecurities. He has an abysmal self-esteem, often understating his accomplishments and accentuating his faults- or making up faults whole cloth from his own imagination. Foremost among his personal grievances is a profound sense of guilt and self-loathing stemming from the fact that his father Belial died to save his life. He also has general PTSD symptoms from the incident including depression, nightmares, anxiety, and sometimes even flashbacks. He has a bad habit of internalizing his issues, not wanting to burden others with his problems. AUs Bad End In Bad End Sieg comes down from the battle at Raven's Keep to find that Cornelio has invaded the lock shop and kidnapped Rosalie. Morgaine is fatally wounded, and survives just long enough to tell Sieg what has happened before succumbing to her injuries. Distraught, Sieg makes the insane choice to travel south into Courdon and attempt to save Rosalie from the Courdonian capital on his own. Against all odds he succeeds, killing Cornelio in the process. However, by the time he rescues Rosalie she is a shell of her former self, and as the two of them are escaping from Courdon Sieg suffers a wound to his right arm that becomes badly infected. By the time the two of them reach Kyth again, the arm is so putrid that it has to be amputated. Sieg becomes something of a legend for his single handed rescue and assassination, but loses his ability to fight and survives the war an extremely broken man. Countryswap Countryswap is very unkind to Sieg. He is born as the result of an illicit affair between Belial (a slave in this AU) and the merchant woman Morgaine. He never meets his mother, who is sold into slavery not long after his birth, and is raised by a broken, desperate father. Sieg endures regular tortures as a warning to Belial from their master not to try and defy him again. This culminates in Belial committing suicide by drowning, and Sieg being sold to the Courdonian House Stallion. Sieg is thoroughly cowed by his new master, for whom he acts as a trophy slave and personal errand boy. Sieg does find some comfort in the friendliness of Alain's brother Ambrose, who talks to the slaves as a means of alleviating his own loneliness. Sieg also meets and befriends the Countryswap version of Orrin during this time, who is a street thief, but ultimately Orrin is killed by the city watch and Sieg is left bereft. It is not long after this that Sieg is approached by the Shadow rebels, who take advantage of his grief over Orrin's death to convince him to turn into a spy for their cause. He passes along a great deal of information about Alain to the rebels, but is eventually discovered. After being tortured for information, Sieg is publicly crucified as an example to the other rebels. In a final act of defiance, as he is hanging from the pole awaiting his death Sieg begins to sing a song in Elvish. It his heard by slaves all over the castle and city, inspiring hope and and anger in them. Alain slits Sieg's neck to silence him, but the damage is done. Sieg becomes a martyr for the rebel cause, and inspires one slave in particular to fling acid at Alain's face- a move that would ultimately help bring about Alain's downfall. Countryswap Crossover More or less an elaborate apology to Sieg for his treatment in Countryswap, the crossover involves the slave version of Sieg from Countryswap being inexplicably transported to the canon version of Destrier Castle in Bern- the castle of the canon Stallions. Though initially confused by the slave version of Sieg, the canon Stallion versions of Alain and Ambrose quickly work out what and who Sieg is. Understandably horrified by what has been done to him by an alternate version of Alain, the two of them set about undoing the damage Courdon has done to him. Cutes and sads ensue. Childhood Friends A one-shot AU fic that was collaborated on between Shinko and Omni, which explored the idea of Sieg and Orrin meeting as children and becoming friends. Set in Kine during the autumn harvest, Belial takes a seven year old Sieg on a trip across Kyth as a birthday present. While in the market, they meet a ten year old Orrin, his mother Aira, and the elderly Bond couple that Orrin and his mother live with. Despite being intrigued by seeing a fellow half-breed, Orrin is initially shy of Sieg due to mistreatment by the local farmers. However, Sieg's enthusiasm and open friendliness win Orrin over and the two of them start playing innocent, childish games with a discus. Orrin accidentally destroys a nearby farmer's wares with the toy, but Belial steps in to defend the children before the man can do anything to them. Aira is grateful to Belial for his help, and Sieg consoles Orrin after the frightening experience. The Bonds and the Ironbeards end up showing the Brahams around the town for the remainder of the day, letting the two young boys enjoy each other's company. Relationships Morgaine Braham Sieg loves his mother dearly, and thinks the world of her. However, unlike his sister, he has always known that Morgaine was not perfect, and that she had weaknesses and insecurities just as anyone else does- having witnessed her panic and anguish when she thought her children were going to be killed by a bear. Consequently, he understood how much losing Belial destroyed his mother, and never blamed her for leaving Nid'aigle in the wake of it. Time and distance strained their relationship for a while, but eventually the two where able to rekindle their bond. Sieg still has something of a bad habit of editing his knightly doings for his mother's consumption, not wanting to worry her too much. All the same, he knows he can always turn to Morgaine if he needs a shoulder to lean on, and he isn't ashamed to do so. Belial Braham Sieg was remarkably close to his father, often spending hours discussing everything from his page training to deep moral philosophy with him. Belial could always cheer Sieg up when he was in a glum mood, and did his best to reassure Sieg that he should be proud of both sides of his heritage- human and elven. There was never any doubt that Belial had all the love in the world for his son, and Sieg loved Belial in turn. Sadly, this made watching his father die a slow, painful death by burning the absolute worst thing that could have ever happened to Sieg. The love for his father that gave him so much comfort and happiness turned into a painful, gaping wound in his heart that still hasn't healed. Sieg feels tremendous guilt for his role in Belial's death, and though he knows his father would never blame him for what happened Sieg still can't forgive himself. Ophelia Braham It is not an exaggeration to say that without Ophelia, Sieg probably would have gone insane in the wake of Belial's death. Ophelia was her brother's anchor during the darkest period of his life, and the two of them are far closer than most siblings would be as consequence. Ophelia is one of the few people who knows everything there is to know about Sieg, and the same is true in reverse. For a time they were all each other had, and it shows in how much they trust and depend on one another. Rosalie Dylas Initially Rosalie was unsure of Sieg, fearing that he was going to try and steal Morgaine's affections from her. However, he managed to use his natural charm and cheerfulness to win her over, and that combined with his penchant for being adorkable made Rosalie grow extremely fond of him. She considers Sieg "her" knight, and the two of them address each other as siblings. For his part, though Sieg is often overwhelmed by Rosalie's exuberant nature, he cares for her a great deal and proudly wears the ornate key she gave him as a gift on the scabbard of his sword. Leif Jade When someone saves your life, you tend to get a favorable impression of them. After Sieg and Leif fought together during the Bloody Coronation, the two of them discovered they had a lot in common and struck up an unlikely friendship. As time went on, despite the distance between them and how infrequently they get to see one another, Sieg and Leif became extremely close. Their personalities are extremely similar, and the dynamic of their friendship is one that might lead someone who doesn't know them well to assume they can't stand each other- an endless torrent of unapologetic snark. The two men tease each other and themselves incessantly, trading bantering remarks that from anyone else would be extremely irksome, but both men know that from the other it comes out of a place of sincere love and respect. Each acknowledges the other's flaws, and both are willing to call the other out for their flaws, but they also both know and respect each other's strengths. Under the jokes is a fierce, unshakeable bond of trust. Sieg would readily put his life in Leif's hands, and on multiple occasions has done just that, resolute in his faith that the archmage will see them through. Leif is one of a very select group of people with whom Sieg feels comfortable showing his deeply vulnerable, insecure side, in part because Leif has known similar feelings and can relate, and in part because Leif is always quick to point out the half-elf's strengths in counter. When they're not tearing into each other in the name of snark, it's something of a running joke between the two of them that they "argue" over which of them owes the other his life more, which is the better man, and which of them underestimates his own worth more. So far neither of them as "won" this argument, and given their personalities it's likely neither of them ever will, but that's fine with Sieg. He's just glad to have someone he can trust and turn to, readily and without reservations, no matter what the situation. Orrin Ironbeard As with Leif, Sieg and Orrin have a very great deal in common, though those similarities aren't in the same respects. Both are half blood knights who lost important father figures, and both share a love of jokes and a fierce desire to help other people. They compliment each other well, with Sieg's easygoing patience tempering Orrin's occasional bouts of temper, and Orrin's good-natured enthusiasm cajoling Sieg to cheer up and have a little fun now and again. However, Orrin is a good bit more comfortable in his own skin than Sieg, and as such he frequently takes the weight of Sieg's traumas and frustrations onto himself in an effort to help the half-elf. Initially Sieg resisted these efforts, not wanting to burden his friend. However, Orrin's gentle but firm insistence broke Sieg's internal barriers. The closeness of the relationship occasionally triggers one or the other (or both) of them to become embarrassed by the situations they find themselves in when caught in a moment of emotional vulnerability, but they can usually move on from it and chuckle over it later. Gavin Monfort Sieg's knight-master is a very old, very kindly elf who's seen a lot in his life and understand the pain of guilt and trauma all too well. As such, he was remarkably patient with Sieg during the early years after Belial's death, nursing his squire through the worst of the PTSD and helping him cope with his grief. Though Sieg cared far too much for Belial to ever regard anyone else as a "father-figure," Gavin's mentorship did mean a great deal to the half-elf. He and Gavin remain good friends, and Sieg has nothing but respect and admiration for his former master. Xavier Lynn Sieg was one of the few people who did not meet and bond with Xavier during the course of the main game, instead meeting him for the first time several months later. The two of them got along surprisingly well, with Sieg feeling a tremendous amount of respect and sympathy for Xavier as a former Courdonian slave who escaped and rose to nobility in Kyth, and Xavier all but hero-worshiping Sieg as a knight who regularly fights off Courdonian slavers. Sieg doesn't really feel like he deserves such high regard, but he's thankful to Xavier regardless. Over the years the two remain friends, and Sieg ends up giving Xavier some very valuable military advice when the later leaves to instigate the slave rebellion in Courdon. Alain Stallion Sieg has a great deal of respect for Alain, and understands that the Stallion patriarch usually has the best of intentions. He would trust Alain's advice and obey the Stallion's orders without question if the two of them found themselves in a combat situation together. However, Alain's cold demeanor and harsh methods intimidate Sieg somewhat. Being easily flustered, the half-elf often finds himself the butt of Alain's trollish sense of humor, much to his chagrin. Alain sincerely does like Sieg, and has his best interest at heart- partially because Sieg's courage and compassion make him hard to dislike, and partially out of a personal respect Alain holds for both Morgaine and Belial. Sieg in turn is usually not sure what exactly to think of Alain, which is probably just how Alain likes it. Markus Accipiter When Leif approached Sieg with the request to visit Nid'aigle and bring his older brother Markus along, the half-elf agreed wholeheartedly. In spite of some previous negative experiences he'd had with the Accipiters, Sieg was willing to trust Leif's judgement and get to know Markus on his own merits. During the course of their time in Nid'aigle, Sieg and Markus discovered they had a great deal in common besides just being knights- their teasing sense of humor, protectiveness of younger siblings, and a tendency towards shouldering guilt over situations that they couldn't really help. Sieg found himself liking Markus a great deal. When everything went wrong and the trip turned into a fight for their lives against a mysterious blood mage, Sieg was further impressed by Markus' skills in combat and his ability to think on his feet in a sticky situation. He considers Markus a friend, and certainly wouldn't mind hanging out again and getting to know him even better in the future. Trivia * Sieg takes his name from the character Siegfried from the German opera Der Ring des Nibelungen or The Ring of the Nibelung by Richard Wagner. * Since most of the players of Medieval only had the Mafia games to compare to, games in which any of the player characters could die at any time, Shinko (who had never played any of the previous forum games) was given the somewhat inaccurate impression that Morgaine was probably going to die at some point. In Mafia games, characters who died usually came back as ghosts so that their writers could keep roleplaying even if they were out of the game. Since Shinko personally preferred her dead characters to stay dead so that death had more emotional weight, Sieg was originally concepted as a replacement character to engage the roleplay in the event Morgaine died. ** Later on it was clarified to Shinko that the strategy dynamics of Medieval were very different from Mafia, and that killing a merchant would be not only pointless but self-defeating for whoever did it. Shinko ended up using Sieg's character later on as a sort of "author's saving throw" when she started feeling left out of the game as a merchant who didn't really have much involvement with the plot. ** Shinko would later reveal after Medieval was over that if Sieg had failed to reinvigorate her interest in the game, she had planned to give Morgaine an "Incurable Cough of Death" in later rounds and kill her. Fortunately it didn't come to that. Category:Medieval charactersCategory:NPCs Category:Nid'aigle Characters Category:Corvids Category:Medievillians